Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for his assessment of the (i) opportunities; and (ii) challenges for his Department in relation to the development of Artificial Intelligence.
Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the key themes of DAERA’s Innovation Strategy. The maturing of Large Language Models and Generative AI has opened up opportunities for a wide range of applications across food, farming, environment, fisheries, forestry and rural development sectors. My Department is currently exploring how it can be used to classify land cover, monitor habitat condition, assess plant health and in change detection, for example in coastal erosion. We are also assessing how AI can be used to drive efficiencies and improve service delivery.
There are challenges and risks with AI related to data protection, unethical use, upskilling staff, and hype. To ensure responsible use with appropriate governance, my Department has taken expert advice from industry leaders and is developing an AI policy and applying guidance from the GOV.uk Generative AI Framework.
ENDS
Your MLA 